Security Bureau defends access curbs on riverbank site if frontier zone opened up
The Lok Ma Chau Loop - a riverbank site coveted for development - must remain part of the frontier security zone or the integrity of the border with Shenzhen will be undermined, a top security official said yesterday.
However, if Hong Kong and Shenzhen decided to develop the area, the Security Bureau would prepare appropriate frontier control measures, Deputy Secretary for Security Cheung Siu-hing said.
'If there is a decision [on the loop] and it needs policy to support the development, we will come up with appropriate measures,' she said on an RTHK programme.
Access to the Lok Ma Chau Loop, a no-man's land formed by realignment of the Shenzhen River, would remain tightly restricted if, as the government proposes, a large part of the closed area is opened up in 2010.
The government proposes building a new border fence to the south of the road running along the frontier which police use for patrols. Ms Cheung said that, since the loop was to the north of the road, it was impossible to open the area at present.